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The 46th Institute was held at Rowley Town Hall ' 

 with large attendance, on December 30, 1886. The fore- 

 noon discussion was on the subject of " Which is most 

 profitable for Farmers, to raise their own Cows or to buy 

 them?" opened by C J. Peabocty, of Topsfield, who 

 treated the subject in a manner which showed his experi- 

 ence and observation and that he favored the raising of 

 cows by farmers for their own use. The discussion gave 

 a great deal of information on the subject of raising, feed- 

 ing and care, and the points of a good cow. The question 

 was left with the evidence rather in favor of farmers rais- 

 ing their own cows. 



After dinner, the meeting was called to order at 2 p. M., 

 and the members of the Society proceeded to elect a dele- 

 gate to the State Board of Agriculture from this Society. 

 Benjamin P. Ware, of Marblehead, was elected. 



Hon. John E. Russell, Secretary of the State Board of 

 Agriculture, was then introduced, and after compliment- 

 ing the Society on re-electing Mr. Ware as its delegate, 

 and on its influence as an agricultural instructor, spoke 

 on the subject of " Sheep Husbandry as adapted to Massa- 

 chusetts." He treated his subject in his usual able^ 

 sprightly, interesting manner, and advocated the keeping 

 of sheep in spite of dogs, of which he said there were 150,- 

 000 owners to 3000 of sheep owners, and said that the best 

 way to renovate the hilly pastures of Essex Count} r was 

 by sheep husbandry. The after discussion by various 

 persons brought out their experiences with sheep and dogs 

 and of their profit and loss with sheep keeping. 



The 47th Institute was held at Memorial Hall, Me- 

 thuen, on Jan. 14, 1887, with "Forage Crops," for the 

 forenoon discussion, to have been opened by John Q. 

 Evans, of Amesbuiy, who was delayed, and Hon. J. J. H. 

 Gregory was called upon, and taking the experiments 

 made with feeding different kinds of forage to cattle at 

 one of the experiment stations as his text, commented 

 upon them in a very interesting manner. During the 



